Connecting Voice

Today Kevin via #CLMOOC’s daily connect asked us to consider adding a recording. It was from an older session where podcasting was the goal. The result was there were not many takers. He posed it again this year and offered vocaroo as a quick way to record. I started thinking as it resonated with the idea of “voice” and “choice”. Why weren’t there takers? Certainly it couldn’t have been the tool as there can be no simpler online tool. I wonder if it goes deeper. I’m reminded of an activity I did with students – no matter the age the results upon hearing their voices was always laughter or in some cases, absolute horror. It was how their voices sounded that was affecting them. Singers are taught to listen to themselves and others. But we aren’t, so listening to ourselves is a new experience. It’s something to take into consideration when we ask our students to record themselves reading a passage or practicing a speech. We may want to connect the term “voice” as an instrument, with the ability to adjust with practice how it sounds. If I stuck with this analogy, then the content we speak are the musical scores leaping off pages.

So to dive in, here’s my #DailyConnect. I use Online-Voice-Recorder, which gives a cleaner recording and offers a bit of extras and just as simple to use. (On ipad, we use VoiceRecordPro.)

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12 thoughts on “Connecting Voice”

I agree, Janet. Hearing one’s own voice is hard – it sounds so different in our own head. But, hearing someone else’s voice is powerful (which I guess we should try to remember when we’re nervously recording.) After reading your writing (here and on twitter) it was nice to actually hear your voice.

Thanks Carla for your comment. The beauty of recording is the ability to redo until we feel it’s ready for the world. A great opportunity here for practice. I must admit that hearing a voice is a different experience.

I get the same reactions from students when we use the language lab in my Spanish class and I play back students’ recordings. They laugh or make comments that they hate the way their voice sounds. I like the suggestion you mention of telling students to use their voice as an instrument that can be adjusted with practice. I think I may try this with my students.

Thanks Senora Higgins for your thoughts. Isn’t it great that our attempts are all works in progress? Watching another day of the Olympics brought this to further light. Athletes train for 4 years or more for one attempt “at perfection”. That’s pressure. I’m going to work on this more as it will become more of a norm in the student blogportfolios.

Your post sparked some great thoughts for me – for my weekly practice assignment (music teacher here), I always offer the students the option to write a reflection about their practicing, record themselves speaking a reflection about their practicing, or recording themselves actually playing their instrument. I have always been surprised that so many more of my students opt for writing or recording their practicing than just talking about it – but I think this is a big reason why!

Thanks Aubrey. Sometimes I think it’s also because we don’t give students the time to practice hearing themselves and make this the norm. Their thinking isn’t important. When they write or record a practice, it’s an activity so they understand this. Voice isn’t expected in school. How do you receive the recordings?

HI Janet. Funny that this post is the first I should read because the topic of “voice” is totally on my mind. Came out of a convo with my kids about why telling someone to “shut up” is, really, one of the must insulting things to say. To take about someone’s basic right to have a voice and an opinion?! Horrific. In this post I love your connection to choice right alongside that important recognition that sharing “voice” isn’t necessarily easy and can be a different experience for diff kids. Looking forward to more exploring on your site 🙂

Thanks Gillian. I agree. I think that people forget how hard real learning is. Putting your opinions out into the world can invite both positive and negative responses. So important to give our students practice in how to voice and in how we offer comments too. Both can be empowering but also can be destructive. To me it’s about valuing each other as “you matter” and we can grow each other.

I was able to connect with what you wrote. I hate listening to my voice. I am horrified by how it sounds. But your point about using voice as an instrument struck a cord with me. I think I should practice listening to myself. Another task added to my growing list of experiments. 🙂 Thanks for the wonderful post and I loved listening to you!

Thank you for your comment. It continues to be a journey. Using audio also is helpful in the reflection process. When you’re able to freeze words in time, it’s only then that you can truly have the time to reflect and design next steps. We use this a lot in our student eportfolios.